In optical defect inspection (e.g. semiconductor verification processes), systems may include databases containing information regarding design specification of various structural components (e.g. threshold distances between registration marks) of an optical inspection target (e.g. a semiconductor device). For a particular optical inspection target, the system may maintain recipe data reflecting a combination of multiple structural components selected from the component database that are incorporated to create the optical inspection target. The recipe may include all the information required to perform an inspection or to classify defects relating to the optical inspection target.
For example, in order to increase the quality of inspection, high-resolution image data associated with a proper optical target design may be maintained so that data may be compared to inspection data associated with an optical target under test. Each optical target structure may have multiple images associated therewith. As such, the quantity of data involved in such inspection processes may be immense.
In the case of distributed optical defect inspection systems including multiple inspection tools accessing a single component library, the data transfer overhead associated with the movement of such large files may become prohibitive. As such, it may be desirable to provide a recipe distribution system (RDS) for the transfer and management of optical inspection target recipes.